Kennedy: Youth Public Diplomacy - Brian Carlson, publicdiplomacycouncil.org: "[W]hen the President and the Secretary of State identify a policy task, it is the job of public diplomacy leaders to find a way to do something about it."

Public Diplomacy with high powered take-off - George Kennedy, American Diplomacy: "The more varied our experiences were as public diplomacy officers, the more effective we were in 'Telling America's Story to the World' and building the bridges of support essential to projecting a vital image of America abroad."

George Kennedy is an independent business owner and retired Senior Foreign Service Officer who has served in management and public affairs positions in Washington, DC, Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, South Korea, the Philippines, and Canada. Kennedy image from entry

Rubio Delivers Major Foreign Policy Speech At AEI- Ricardo Ledan, capitalsoup.com: Rubio: "America’s success in remaining a beacon for freedom has been due in part to our extensive public diplomacy efforts. But we should continue to come up with creative ways to utilize new technologies that aid in the spread of news and information. Because ultimately, as we’ve seen with the Arab Spring, ease of communication and the spread of knowledge has proven a surefire way to spark the fire of liberty. But tyrants know this, too. Cuba is a case in point. They have successfully worked to restrict their people’s access to information in a variety of ways, including strictly controlling Internet access. We should transition our information programs from focusing only on content to focusing on access as well, particularly access that’s not subject to regime scrutiny."

Social Media Conference Sparks Public Diplomacy Debate - Heidi Anderson, piperrealism.wordpress.com: "Three different speakers spoke collectively on the dicey borders of ethics with social media’s role in public policy at a panel discussion [part of Hamline’s International Education Week] on Thursday. ... [C]urrent State Department employee Graham Lampa discussed what the definition of public diplomacy is at his workplace. 'Public diplomacy is people to people engagement and government to people engagement,' said Lampa. German researcher Phillip Niemann discussed his findings of Germany’s social media usage to promote election campaigns. Niemann said that his results showed that Germans did not use social media for a political purpose. This was due to their perception of social media accounts

being a personal space that requires personal censorship. Graduate student Maura Youngman discussed another form of censorship, government controlled internet in Russia. According to Youngman, Russia has a possible blacklist that prevents content such as child pornography and suicide advocacy to be shown on the web in Russia. Lampa discussed that in his work with the State Department, he is focused on infiltrating

foreign countries social media networks to promote the work and image of the United States. Lampa said that this is particularly important in countries such as Pakistan where the media creates a negative bias against the U.S. His job is to create a social media presence that changes that view. All three presentations showed that the struggle of ethics with promoting social and political issues through forms of social media is a global issue. Lampa defended his work of promoting the US in foreign countries by using a personal example. He described his various experiences of travel and studying abroad in Germany as being successful for Germany. If countries are able to promote opportunities such as study abroad through social media, they will begin to have a presence with individuals outside their borders. The panel discussion was a part of Hamline’s International Education Week. Other presentations on international issues were held throughout the week." Top image from; below image from

North Miami police chief to pay city $3K for his trip to Haiti - Philippe Buteau, miamiherald.com: "North Miami Police Chief Marc Elias must reimburse the city about $3,000 for taking a trip to Haiti and expensing it to the city, officials said this week. ... Elias, who is Haitian-American, took a two-week trip in July that cost taxpayers $2,800, according to city records. The purpose was 'meeting with National Haitian Police staff'

for implementing community policing services in Haiti and to get an update on child exploitation, according to travel documents Elias submitted to the city. But Haitian police officials and the U.S. State Department, which is leading efforts to strengthen the Haitian National Police, said North Miami is not among the law enforcement agencies involved in the effort. 'Only the New York City Police Department has partnered with the Department of State to train with the Haitian National Police on community policing,' wrote Christian Cali, public diplomacy officer at the State Department, in an email." Elias image from entryIsrael starting to consider ‘day after’ Iran agreement - Herb Keinon, ceiprophecy.com: "Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, as Israel begins preparing its 'day after' scenario in expectation of an imminent interim agreement between the P5+1 and Iran. ... Israel’s main problem with the proposed deal is that it freezes Iran’s program but does not dismantle it or significantly roll it back, in exchange for sanctions relief that Jerusalem believes severely weakens the pressure on Tehran.

Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Tuesday that in accepting this agreement, the world would be demonstrating that it 'is willing to deceive itself.' Netanyahu, meanwhile, showed no sign of letting up on his public diplomacy campaign against the deal. Accompanying visiting French President François Hollande to an innovation conference and exhibit in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said, 'What we are seeing is the future. I think where radical Islam is trying to take us is the past. We are for modernity. They are for a dark medievalism. We’re for opening up our societies for everyone – men, women, minorities and the right to be different. They’re for uniform suppression [by the dictates] of a rigid doctrine, and they want to back it up with weapons of death.'”

Russia pressure on Ukraine could be working - Business New Europe [access by subscription only]: From google entry: "It eschewed senior-level state visits; economic deal-making; and high-impact public diplomacy. Once again, in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, the US punched ..."

Equatorial Guinean Diplomats in China - english.cri.cn: "Employees from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea are attending training courses on public diplomacy at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. ... The courses on public diplomacy were established in 1996 at the China Foreign Affairs University. The university started off with around 20 students enrolled, holding one semester a year. The number has climbed to over 300 and dozens of semesters a year. The training, including lectures and site visits, provides a platform for diplomats from developing countries to access China's policies and cultures, the university said."

Maybe Mark Scott isn’t the national security expert he thinks. UPDATE: Or the diplomat - Andrew Bolt, blogs.news.com.au: "Remember how Mark Scott argued that Labor should leave the Australia Network, broadcasting into Indonesia, in the ABC’s hands because the ABC was better at 'diplomacy' than, say, News Corp? [A] public broadcaster, like the ABC, gives us the best possible means – with Radio Australia and Australia Network – of representing Australia’s international interests through broadcasting… It’s worth asking if the entrepreneurial talent, daring and risk that give you an edge in commercial media are also the right credentials for the world of public diplomacy.... I am confident that, when Australia’s reputation is at stake, international broadcasting by an energetic, independent public broadcaster owned by the Australian people, is the right way to continue. And I am confident that the job of advancing Australia’s international interests is in not just the most efficient and effective, but the safest possible hands. Really? The ABC that revealed to Indonesia we tapped the President’s phone and which attacks our own Prime Minister for being an oaf who won’t say sorry is 'advancing Australia’s international interests'? Is an organisation which has our public diplomacy in 'the safest possible hands'? Strip the Australia Network from the ABC, as was recommended by a tender process twice overturned by Labor. And then get really serious about the ABC’s failure to live by its charter."

Will Sheikh Rashid be the next Prime Minister? - Haider Mehdi, nation.com.pk: "It is worth remembering that there is probably nothing more damaging to an elected democratic leadership than a combination of people losing faith in their elected representatives and the loss of face of the elected leadership caused by their hypocrisy, inaction, double-talk and an overly visible detachment from the real problematic issues confronting a nation. These two related aspects sum up the destructive potentials for an elected leadership. My question here is: Is the incumbent PML-N leadership heading that way - both at the personal, political management elite level as well as in the broader public diplomacy context?"

Alec Ross Diplomacy 3.0; Matthias ['It's safe to say that Matthias Lüfkens is playing a vital role for carrying out such a task. He leads the Digital Practice of Burson-Marsteller across Europe, Middle-East and Africa (EMEA'] may emblemetize [sic] a new category which is Diplomacy 4.0 (Twiplomacy). It's the professionalization, personalization, individualization, particularization (product-specific) and privatization of digital diplomacy in various other fashions. Diplomacy 4.0 requires direct private sector involvement. This should mean more open data for policy-makers and researchers. Twiplomacy focuses on the use of Twitter. But others may choose to use different services and in turn coin new terms such as 'Faceplomacy' or 'Squareplomacy'.

Active and Improvising, Kerry Is Taking on Tough Problems - Mark Landler and Michael R. Gordon, New York Times: Mr. Kerry’s prodigious energy and desire to make a mark have made him a more activist secretary of state than his famous predecessor, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and so far at least, more willing to take risks than Mrs. Clinton.

Drone attack kills 6 at Pakistan seminary - Zulfiqar Ali and Mark Magnier, latimes.com: Many Pakistanis believe drone attacks kill an unacceptable number of innocent civilians and are an insult to the nation’s pride and sovereignty. But analysts say parts of the Pakistani government have quietly supported the CIA-led program, providing targeting and other key intelligence, even as they decry it in public.

to a deal with Iran to freeze its nuclear program as a first step toward a comprehensive agreement that would allow a limited Iranian civilian nuclear program, including some enrichment of uranium for civilian uses. Image from entry, with caption: US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) and Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (R) at the United Nations in September.

U.S. should be wary of Iran’s goal to dominate the Middle East - Joseph Lieberman and Vance Serchuk, Washington Post: Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons is the most alarming manifestation of a much more profound strategic problem: a perceived long-standing hegemonic ambition by Iran’s rulers to dominate the Middle East. We must think carefully — and coordinate with allies — about how we can continue to contain and combat Iran’s malignant regional influence, should a nuclear agreement be reached.

Egypt looks for a path toward democracy - David Ignatius, Washington Post: The United States, after months of confusing stop-go policy toward Egypt, may finally be moving to help its long-standing ally find some balance. Unfortunately, high-level confusion in U.S. policy appears to be continuing, with Secretary of State John F. Kerry supporting more assistance for Egypt and national security adviser Susan Rice resisting what might appear to be support for the military coup. The United States can’t afford such policy disarray. The U.S. policy tilt back toward Egypt, as urged by Kerry, makes sense, especially if it aligns the United States with the narrative of change that began in 2011 in Tahrir Square.

Obama is America's first Black President, may be America's worst - Crystal Wright, Washington Times: Barack Obama is a terrible president who just so happens to be the nation’s first black president. His first trip abroad as president in 2009 was to Cairo to give an apologist speech to the Muslim world for America’s greatness and might in fighting terrorism. Obama recently chose Iran over Israel and agreed to allow Iran to keep its nuclear program under promises it will stop uranium production. In exchange, the US will ease economic sanctions on the mullah run nation, which sponsors terrorism against America and promised to eradicate Israel from the face of the earth. How can we forget after two years of avoiding any action on Syria, Obama asked Congress to vote on whether the US should take military action, effectively absolving himself of responsibility. Then Obama outsourced America’s foreign policy to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who negotiated a deal with Syrian President Assad to turn over his weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations.

in conditional detention will have to be repatriated or otherwise transferred. Image from entry, with caption: Guantanamo detainees pray before dawn near a fence of razor-wire, inside Camp 4 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba.

How Bush Let Iran Go Nuclear - Ari Shavit, New York Times: If Mr. Bush had decided to display American leadership and exercise American power by launching a diplomatic campaign against Iran rather than a military one against Iraq 10 years ago, the United States’ international standing would be far greater today.

"Kennedy, like Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, understood that words and images are the way to reach millions of people. The president's job is to lead the nation, not manage the government, which is unmanageable."

--Richard Reeves, a senior lecturer at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC.

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About Me

A Princeton PhD, was a US diplomat for over 20 years, mostly in Eastern Europe, and was promoted to the Senior Foreign Service in 1997. For the Open World Leadership Center, he speaks with
its delegates from Europe/Eurasia on the topic, "E Pluribus Unum? What Keeps the United States United" (http://johnbrownnotesandessays.blogspot.com/2017/03/notes-and-references-for-discussion-e.html). Affiliated with Georgetown University (http://explore.georgetown.edu/people/jhb7/) for over ten years, he still shares ideas with students about public diplomacy.
The papers of his deceased father -- poet and diplomat John L. Brown -- are stored at Georgetown University Special Collections at the Lauinger Library. They are manuscript materials valuable to scholars interested in post-WWII U.S.-European cultural relations.
This blog is dedicated to him, Dr. John L. Brown, a remarkable linguist/humanist who wrote in the Foreign Service Journal (1964) -- years before "soft power" was ever coined -- that "The CAO [Cultural Affairs Officer] soon comes to realize that his job is really a form of love-making and that making love is never really successful unless both partners are participating."